Together with the Hamburger Ratsmusik, soprano Dorothee Mields presents several of the most beautiful solo cantatas by Baroque master Johann Philipp Krieger. Krieger's music effortlessly blended French and Italian elements of style, making him an important model for the milieu in which Bach and Telemann would thrive. His early trio sonatas round out the disc.

American Record Guide, September/October 2013The Latin motet and three sacred concertos from Johann Philip Krieger's Musicalischer Seelen-Frieden (1697) are recorded here for the first time. Here we have 'Herr, Auf Dich Trau Ich', 'Es Stehe Gott Auf', 'Gott, Man Lobet Dich in der Stille', and 'Ecce Nunc Benedicte Domino'. All of them are scored for solo voice, two violins, and continuo. These are very expressive and highly virtuosic pieces. The "Alleluias" are replete with astounding passage work. Dorothee Mields sings them with such ease that they sound like second nature. She has a clear soprano voice that seems perfectly suited to this highly decorative repertory. Between the vocal concertos come three sonatas from Krieger's Opus 2 (XII Suonate a doi, Violino e Viola da Gamba). As the title indicates, these are duets for violin, bass viol, and the requisite continuo. The sonatas vary considerably among themselves in terms of their number and forms of movements. This kind of variety is rather typical of the sonatas of Krieger's German contemporaries, such as Biber (1644-1704). There's some really wonderful playing here. The sonatas bear as much virtuosity as the vocal works.